


Horrors of the Deepsea

by Hunter_Hikari



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, i wrote this for myself honestly, myself and my best friend, will i ever stop writing about the deepsea metro? probably not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2020-11-26 17:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunter_Hikari/pseuds/Hunter_Hikari
Summary: It was meant to be a simple task. They were just going to capture her and send her down to the Metro. They didn't plan on him getting in the way. And he didn't plan on getting sent down there with her.





	1. Chapter 1

...

Where am I? What happened?

Right. The last thing I remember... they were trying to take her away from me. And I wouldn't let them.  
I guess they got me too.

I stand up and try to get my bearings. I'm in... a train station? I'm on the platform, but there don't seem to be any trains here at the moment, or anything indicating when they'd come. It's only barely lit up, and the tunnels where the trains would come in look like voids. I'm wearing some weird skintight black bodysuit, but it's got nothing covering the midriff. Okay, first things first, find something to put on over this.  
I don't see anyone else here. Not a living thing in sight. Just some weird machine in the middle of the platform, with an oddly placed spotlight on it.

Brrrring  
Brrrring

Is it a phone?  
I don't like the looks of this one bit. I don't see her anywhere, and I don't have a weapon on me. But I'm curious. I walk forward and pick up what looks like the part you're supposed to hold.

[SEARCHING FOR USER ID...]  
[USER 2001 CONFIRMED]  
"Greetings, 2001. Your current location is: Deepsea Metro Central Station. My primary function is to facilitate your journey to the promised land. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Deepsea Metro, huh. That sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.  
"You have spent your entire life in the dark. Your eyes closed to the wonders that await. The promised land. A utopia of light beyond your wildest dreams. It is all that and more. However, I cannot take you to the promised land now. Only those who have proven themselves may go to the promised land. There have been 2,000 applicants so far, which makes you applicant 2001. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Good luck."  
"This is Deepsea Metro Central Station, the central hub of the facility. Here is your CQ-80 and CQ card."  
The slot under the speaker slides out a plastic card, and some weird device with a joystick clunks to the ground.  
"Guard them with your life, because if you lose them, you will be disqualified. Now please board the train."

Alright. Sounds simple enough.  
"Can I bring her with me? Do you know where she is?"  
But the stupid thing doesn't respond. Of course not. Like it would be that easy.  
I can hear a noise coming from the tunnel. And in no time at all, a train pulls up at the station.  
What if she's still here?  
Well, he did call it the central station. Meaning the train has to come back here at some point.  
So I take a leap of faith and step on, the doors closing behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you for using the Deepsea Metro today. I am your humble conductor, C.Q. Cumber."  
I look down at the source of the voice to see a teeny blue blob at my feet. It's wearing a hat. It has no eyes. And it's talking to me.  
"Here's the deal... We're in a vast underground facility operated by the Kamabo Corporation... It's a series of test chambers connected by th-"  
"Cut to the chase, sea slug."  
Even without a face, it looks kinda pissed off at me.  
"You want to go to the promised land, I assume."  
"I want out of here."  
"The promised land is a paradise to which we denizens of the depths are forbidden entry. To reach it, you must pass a test at each Deepsea Metro station. You must also find and collect the four components. When all four components have been gathered, the door to the promised land shall open."  
"Get four things, bring em here, you'll let me out. Yeah?"  
"Yes, essentially. If you have no other questions, we will proceed to the first test chamber."  
"Have you seen any other Octolings?"  
"I have seen thousands of your kind."  
"What about... one about this tall. Long hair tied up in the back. Grey eyes."  
"Not recently."

Nothing again. Dammit.  
What did they do to you?  
Finding her will be my first priority. And we'll get out of this place together.  
I hope.

None of the other people on the train talk. They aren't creatures I've ever seen before. I felt out of place. And worse, I felt lost. I felt lost without her. I needed her, whether I knew it or not. And now she's gone. Is she even here? Has something already happened to her?  
I don't buy this "promised land" shit, and I do NOT trust these "test chambers". But I've been given a map of the facility that isn't going to get filled out unless I start clearing them. I wonder if she got roped into this whole test nonsense too.  
But I guess I have no choice.

As soon as that slug sends me in, I hear music. Music coming from cheap, crackling speakers. It sounds far away... but I'd recognize that anywhere.  
Mizuta wrote that.  
Why the hell are they playing her music? Is she here too? Is this where they sent her?  
... Could I get her back too?

The test wasn't anything too difficult. Just beating a bunch of Takozones. Nothing I haven't done before. But they were a sickening green color, spraying this oily ink that reeks of chemicals. Pretty clear to me that they're not real Takos. Not sure I want to know what they are. They don't just have Takos either. All the test rooms are packed with these weird oily Octarians, with the bright blue ink. They're not any stronger than normal Octarians, maybe even dumber. Did Octavio send them here like he did us? Is this what happens when you fail the tests? Not that I have time to worry about that. I won't fail. I have to get out of here. Fueled by that desire, I kept on going. But the map kept getting bigger. More and more lines, more and more tests. And no sign of her. No sign of anyone living, besides the ones riding the subway.

But no matter where I am, I feel like something is watching me. Stalking me. But whenever I turn around, there isn't anything there.

Test by test by test. Until I finally got that first component. I was expecting it to be guarded, at least. But I could just walk up and grab it, load it onto the trolley and wheel it back to the train. I wasn't listening to the phone at all as it congratulated me on my success. My eyes were locked on something underneath the giant round thing I'd just acquired. A faint blueish green glow. Did one of those oily octopi get onto the trolley? I lifted up the component to see nothing but... a tiny, almost spherical blob thing.

"What the... what's this?"

I reach out to grab it, and it backs away from me.

"It's alive?"

Slowly, it inches back towards me, and bumps into my hand. It's cold, but it doesn't feel like the oily ink. I take the little blob in my hand and lift it up to get a closer look. It doesn't appear to have any facial features, or any face. No limbs or anything either. Just a little blob. A little seafoam-colored, glowing, moving scoop of ice cream looking thing.

It's kinda cute.

"Do you wanna come with me, little... uh.. thing?"

It doesn't say anything. I don't think I can talk. I lower it down to the ground, letting it get off my hand. But it stays.

"I guess that's a yes."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter gets weird

The little blob almost made me feel less lonely. It's not like it's sentient or anything, but it's friendly, at least. It usually stays at the gate when I do the tests. But it's not letting go.

"Do you want to... come with?"

It still doesn't detach. Is it worried about me? ... Yeah, right. It's just a blob.

"You can come with me if you want."

I begin the test. Girl Power Station. "Ink-a-zig-ah..." Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Before me lie a bunch of weapons scattered across the ground. I don't know how to use most of these, so I just grab the one that looks like an Octobrush. I swing it around. Looks like a brush. Feels like a brush. Inks like a brush. It's good enough. I jump in.

The instructions are simple. I gotta protect this round thing from some Takos. But I hear something. It's faint, but it sounds like... someone crying. I yell out to them.

"Is anyone here?!"

"L-Lighty?!"

I know that voice.

My sister.

"Mizuta! Stay there, I'm coming!"

I look around. The Takos have jumped in and are already closing in on me. But I'm not going to let anyone stand between me and her anymore. I start swinging my brush as fast as I can, demolishing them one by one. It seems like I'm making progress. The round thing is still in pretty good shape too, and the timer's ticking away. Another squadron drops down, which I promptly dispose of.

"Mizuta! Where are you?"

"Ngh- I'm tied up! Behind this pillar thing!"

I follow the sound of her voice, and of course she's guarded by more Takos. Splat, splat, splat, done. Easy. Are they getting weaker or something?

"Lighty..."

"Don't worry. I've got you."

I gently lift her up and carry her back to the round thing. 10 seconds left on the timer. But no more Takos are jumping down. Was that it? A pop, crack, and fizzle tell me the loudspeaker's on.

"Congratulations. Test passed. You may return to the train."

Phew. I untie the ropes around Mizuta's hands and feet. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me in for a hug.

"I- I was really scared... I couldn't find you anywhere... Then those green ladies jumped me, and I didn't have a weapon, and..."

"Shhh... Shhhh. You're okay now. I'm NEVER. Going to let anything happen to you again."

"Lighty... what's that?"

Oh yeah. It's still here. Hard to tell since it has no face, but it seems relieved that I'm unharmed.

"Uh... I'll explain that later."

Her eyes suddenly go wide.

"Behind you!"

"What?!"

And that's when it happened. I turn around to see a Tako holding a giant paint roller over her head, ready to swing it down and crush me. The little slimeball jumps off my shoulder and attaches to her face, knocking her flat on the ground. Mizuta and I watch to see if she's gonna get up. But the little slimeball is still on her face. And in only a few seconds, the slimeball _melts into her face_. The whole Tako sorta loses form, becoming just a pile of goop. Which stands up. And stares at me. It's got two large, vacant eyes, entirely black except for the glowing irises. Its mouth seems to have a perpetual frown, and it seems to be having trouble standing on its own two legs.

"... Well. That's new."

"Bbbhh..."

It's talking to me now. Sorta.

"Hbbbh... bbbuh..."

"I... don't know what you're trying to tell me. Do you want to... stay with me?"

It nods fervently, dropping a bit of slime on the ground.

"Alright. That's cool with me."

Its weird drippy mouth curls into a smile.

"Whehehegehehehhh..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're baby.  
for a visual of the slime monster: https://twitter.com/mcreploid/status/1195671896311975937?s=20


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Lighty..."

"Yeah?"

"You heard it too, right? These test chambers, they're playing Meezy's music."

"Yep."

"Do you think she's down here too? You don't think those oily Takos got her, do ya?"

"I don't know, sis. But I wanna find out."

"I hope Meezy's okay..."

She swings her legs and rocks back and forth in her seat. She doesn't like sitting still.

"Hey, why's the slimey staring at me?"

"... I dunno."

With its blank expression and unblinking gaze, it's a bit unnerving. But it's at least nice to know that it's on my side.

"Bllrb..."

"It makes funny noises!"

She smacks it on the head.

_plap_

"Wegh..."

"Gwahaha! It's as sticky as it looks!"

"Don't bother it too much, alright?" I said, fully expecting her to ignore me.

"Gwahahahah!"

"Weeeegh..."

_plap plap plap plap plap plap plap_

I almost feel bad for it.

"Uh... Hey, slime... thing."

"It needs a name!"

No, it really doesn't.

"We'll name it later."

No, we won't.

"You kinda... live here, right?"

"... Bbuh... Hhbubuh..."

Dammit. Why doesn't anything down here give me a straight answer for once? I guess I can give this thing a pass, since it can't talk...

"Look. When you were that little ice cream scoop, you could see, right?"

It nods.

"Did you see this girl? Mizuta?"

I hold out a photograph, pointing to her. My other sister. Who isn't really my sister. Who is also named Mizuta.

They look at the picture, and back at the Mizuta sitting next to me.

"No, see, there's two of them... There's this Mizuta, and that Mizuta. One of them's my sister, the other one is a friend... She's my age, we were in the same classes... Wh-why am I telling you this anyway, it's not like you understand..."

"No, I think they get it... Kinda."

It makes a bunch of motions before simply writing it on the floor in slime:

101.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dunno."

The blob shuffles over and gets the attention of the sea cucumber thing. He doesn't seem to understand it either.

"What is this... _thing..._ trying to communicate?"

"Blubbbhh...."

"I don't know either."

It slaps the joystick on that device the phone gave me and points to the central station on the map.

"Is that where we need to go, slimey?"

"Bbeh!"

"Will the spiky pudding take us there?"

"Central Station. Yes, that is an upcoming destination. Our estimated time of arrival is 20 minutes from now."

"Lighty, translate..."

"We're going there right now."

"Yaaaay! We're gonna see Meeeezy~"

"Yeah, I hope so..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> plap plap plap plap plap


	5. Chapter 5

Printed plainly on the door the slime lead us to were the numbers "101". Underneath, it said "EMPLOYEES ONLY", but I'd never paid heed to those signs before and I wasn't starting now.

"Do you think Meezy's in here, slimey?"

"Beh."

They slap their gooey arm onto the scanner. It sparks, hisses, and makes a few sad noises before breaking.

"Heh. Nice."

"Can I bust down the door? Can I, can I?!"

She doesn't wait for an answer, ramming her head into it. That actually seemed to loosen it a bit.

"On three, alright? We'll bust it together."

"Yeah! Teamwork!"

"One, two..."

SLAM

I see it as soon as the door falls down. The other Mizuta, slumped down in the corner of the room. There's an IV drip next to her, full of what looks like the ink those oily octopi were using. Thankfully, it's not connected to her, and she seems to be uninjured.

"Meezy!"

"Oogh... cod, my head..."

"Meezyyy! Can you hear me? It's Zoot!"

"Quit yelling... too early for this..."

"What did the funny phone do to you?! You're just as grumpy as Lighty now!"

"You alright, sis?"

"What are you guys doing down here... Did he..."

"Yeah. That bastard sent us down too."

"Are you okay, Meezy? Did those oily Takos hurt you? Lighty will beat them up!"

"No, actually... I've been locked in this room for a while. Before, I was riding the train, just making the most of my bad situation... I made some pretty boppin' songs! I dunno what happened, I woke up here, and I couldn't get out..."

"So there's definitely something fishy going on here."

"Bbbeh...."

"What's that."

"Oh, that's... uh..."

"This is our slime friend!! Their name is... uhh... Sleem!"

"Yeah, it... kinda led us to you. Smarter than it looks."

"Whehehehegh..."

"Aww... well, thanks... Sleem. Did you name them, Zoot?"

"I came up with it just then! It's a good name, isn't it?"

"It's... It's great, Zoot. I'm sure they love their name."

"Yaaaay!"

"I collected those components the phone wanted. It said it'll take me to the 'promised land' whenever I'm ready."

"Right, it said something like that... What's the promised land, d'you think?"

"Well, it said... a utopia of light or something. It's gotta be Inkopolis. Where Mom lived."

  
I have my sisters back, we're almost out of here... In Inkopolis, we won't have to live under the king's rules anymore. It won't be anything like the Valley. We'll be free. The slime... the slime can come too. They've helped us out quite a bit, it wouldn't be fair to abandon them here. Even if the promised land isn't Inkopolis, at least we'll all be going there together. It;s not often I can say it, but... I'm almost optimistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nobody tell him it's a giant blender


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you prepared to proceed to the promised land?"

"Yeah. Get us the fuck out of here."

"Understood."

Howling, whirring, beeping... screaming? Right before our eyes, in quite an elaborate light show, the four components assembled to make a device.

"Please enter."

"Hey, Lighty... doesn't that thing look familiar?"

"It's probably nothin."

The three of us step forward into the door.

"Nooooo!! No no no no no!!"

I swing my head around. All of us, phone included, are staring at the slime.

"Did you just... talk?"

"No no noooo!"

They're waving their arms wildly and screaming, but the phone cuts them off.

"001. What are you doing. Why are you associating yourself with these inferior creatures?"

"Bbweh!"

"I should not have expected so much from an experiment. But I will dispose of you later. I have more urgent matters to attend to."

The door slams shut.

"Squad 17. Attack."

Ten- no, twenty of the oily Takos jump on them. The floor begins to rise, as does the music, and we grow closer and closer to...

a blade. A spinning, whirring, blade.

"You... DIE TODAY."

The oily Takos are gone. A giant green claw swipes, knocking the machine over and shattering the glass and shutting the whole thing down.

"WHAT. Are. You. DOING?!"

"Ggrrgh...."

The 15 foot monster before us turns to us next. Its face doesn't change from the hostile expression, but it gingerly lifts us up in its hand and stars walking. Ripping the door to the 101 room right off, it punches through the ceiling tiles and places us in the room above. A dark office, lit only by a wall of security monitors. And in the center of the room is an elevator. It follows us up, and we begin to rise.

The phone's voice booms.

"You were meant to be nothing more than a slave. An extra pair of hands. And look what you've done. You've ruined everything. There is a chance for redemption. Cease this behavior now, and I could be persuaded to spare your miserable half-life."

He gets nothing but a guttural roar in response.

"So be it. All squads. Attack at will."

The monster wraps its arms around us, covering us from the onslaught. We can hear the oily Takos attack it, only to be subsumed. The monster grows, dripping bits of slime onto the floor.

"You are a failure. A mistake. Nothing can save you. The world these inferior beings inhabit will be cruel to you. They will never accept you as one of their own. I hope you are pleased with your decision. You have accomplished nothing."

It seems to be totally ignoring him. The sunlight blinds us for a moment as it lifts its massive arms away from us. We look down to see we're on a platform in the middle of the sea. And up to see a 50 foot behemoth above us and a huge statue rising out of the water. The mouth of the statue begins to open.

"NO!"

It slams down both of its fists and the statue crumbles easily.

  
"That... felt like it was supposed to be an epic final boss."

"Sleemy's sooo cool!!"

It scoops us up in its hand and, with ground-shaking steps, approaches the city. It seems as if we're sinking, bit by bit, but it safely deposits us on a pier. We turn around to see that it's shrinking in the water, and rapidly at that.

"Ah, crap- Zoot, help me pull em out!"

By the time we're able to get them onto dry land, they've returned to being only a few feet tall.

"Holy shit, Sleemy! You saved our butts!!"

"That... was terrifying, but also cool..."

"Yeah, you really did save our asses... You alright?"

"Bbweh..."

They give a goopy smile.

"Phew... Listen, what the phone said... It's not true, y'know. I dunno about the rest of the city, but Zoot likes ya. And... uh, I- I guess I like you too."

"Lighty likes Sleemy, Lighty likes Sleemy~!"

"Cram it."

"You can... you can stay with us, if you want. It's the least I can do for you."

"Hhuh?"

"Do you wanna stay with us?"

"Yeh!"

"C'mon then."

For the first time in years,

I gave a genuine smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imagine being good at writing dramatic climaxes couldnt be me


End file.
